Why do intellectuals hate capitalism?

This topic has been done before 0/10

intellectuals don't care about social hierarchies.

For the reason that a homeless man would struggle to get food in a city nowadays whereas 2000 years ago he could get it for free and we're meant to be more advanced, in addition the greenforests are being destroyed and kids are being pumped full of sugar for money. I'm not saying communism is better but capitalism has huge faults and judging by the state of the world changes need to happen

yyy wrote:

intellectuals don't care about social hierarchies.

HAHAHA. Good one.

Some might count me, with my four degrees, as an intellectual. And I'm a *big* fan of true capitalism, the non-interference of government in transactions between consenting competent adults: laissez-faire, in other words.

I am *not* a fan of so-called crony capitalism aka "the partnership of government and private business." That is not capitalism; in strictly economic terms, it's actually much closer to fascism.

Oh, and 3/10. I was gonna go lower but, hey, it even got a semi-serious response from me--and I *knew* I was being trolled.

-33/10

Total strawman.

Intellectuals, as a collective, do not hate capitalism. In fact, capitalism as an ideology only exists thanks to intellectuals like Adam Smith,David Ricardo Fredrich Hayek, John Maynard Keynes, and Milton Friedman.

The vast majority of Western intellectuals today support the market economy and capitalism. That said, it is in the nature of an intellectual to scrutinize and question everything. Since the mantra of 'free-market' has been instilled to the point of dogma in us lay-folk, we can often confuse critiques and proposed 'tweaks' to capitalism for outright hatred of the institution. For instance, Thomas Pikkety, one of the paramount economists of our time, proposes a global tax on capital to curb the rising income inequality that he feels an externality of capitalism. Is he proposing scrapping capitalism for socialism? To our American ears, maybe, but in the actual definitions, absolutely not. This is a 'tweak', which would bring the economy closer in line with our Judeo-Christian ethics and prevent demagogues from rabble-rousing the poor into real Communism.

Now of course, you'll find lots of sociologists who actually hate capitalism and propose some form of Marxism. Their ideas and reasoning are well thought out, and are good to read for general edification, but sociology as a field is total pseudo-science.

This guy is all over the place. Conflating medieval merchants with modern capitalists...interesting. The reason modern intellectuals (and many others) disdain capitalism in the United States is that capital has entrenched itself into the government in a manner that is almost absolutely resistant to any change that might negatively affect their influence/power.

Think Barack Obama was a socialist? Haha. He may not have been small business friendly, but he was a large capitalist/state capitalist for sure.

CAPCOM wrote:

For the reason that a homeless man would struggle to get food in a city nowadays whereas 2000 years ago he could get it for free and we're meant to be more advanced, in addition the greenforests are being destroyed and kids are being pumped full of sugar for money. I'm not saying communism is better but capitalism has huge faults and judging by the state of the world changes need to happen

No one struggles to get food in America. Many homeless people are fat.

Capitalism gives economic power to the people. Intellectuals want to retain economic power for only themselves.

Red pill giver wrote:

No one struggles to get food in America.

My brother does. He's a midget. He can't reach the table. It's hilarious.

Just what is an intellectual? Some guy with a degree that can't even change his own oil? Wouldn't last a week in the wilderness?

kikKomen Soi sauce wrote:

Capitalism gives economic power to the people.

To the people with capital. Big difference

Smarties don't like to see dummies make bank: they're willing to subject ALL to misery (think Soviets) in order that their natural superiority can be more easily notices (through book clubs or whatever).Now, as for the below:

CAPCOM wrote:

For the reason that a homeless man would struggle to get food in a city nowadays whereas 2000 years ago he could get it for free and we're meant to be more advanced, in addition the greenforests are being destroyed and kids are being pumped full of sugar for money. I'm not saying communism is better but capitalism has huge faults and judging by the state of the world changes need to happen

I've never seen homeless struggle for food (opiates, yes; food, no); food is cheaper now than ever (and takes up just a tiny % of income versus history).

Yes, some "greenforests" are being destroyed (e.g., the Amazon); ungood.

No one "pumps kids full of sugar." A): it's high-fructose corn syrup; B): they do it on their own; C): their (stoopid) parent/s allow/s it. (Of course, in an intellectual/Soviet system, sugar would be hard to come by).

Individuals make choices. Make better choices. Duh. Attempts to *force* ppl to make better choices (more accurately: choices YOU don't agree with) rarely work and skew society.

BTW: The military enforces better eating and better health (and better financial literacy); do you support universal conscription?

Do you mean pure unregulated free markets? Pure unregulated free markets do not work on a large scale. I love how CEOs say that crap. Most of their employees come from public schools, a socialistic program.

They don't. But idiots like to make broad assumptions about us because their tiny, reptilian minds are only capable of broad assumptions, rather than recognizing the nuance that pervades our endlessly fascinating existence.

I don't hate capitalism. But I despise the way that people try to intertwine capitalism and Western cultural values. I believe in a culture in which people value helping each other in their community and in their country. Capitalism is, at its core, the idea that people should be free to pursue power (through political influence, wealth, etc). It is an important tool for allowing rival factions to achieve some balance of power (e.g. competing businesses). But it is dangerous to apply capitalism to a cultural mindset because this asserts that selfish actions, even those that fundamentally hurt others economically, is socially normative.